Is skin cancer contagious by touch?

We have heard that people with skin diseases are contagious, but we have never heard that skin cancer is contagious. And the itchy skin diseases are highly contagious. People with skin diseases can be seen everywhere in life, and in severe cases, they are similar to skin cancer. Therefore, we must strictly distinguish skin cancer from skin diseases. So, is skin cancer contagious by touch?

Many people who have skin diseases are worried about infecting their family members. In fact, there are nearly 2,000 skin diseases. Most of them are not contagious. Contagious skin diseases only account for a small part, and they are not very contagious. According to the infectious pathogens, they can be divided into:

The main bacterial diseases are: impetigo, scarlet fever, skin tuberculosis, leprosy, gonorrhea, chancroid, etc.;

The main viral diseases are: chickenpox, herpes simplex, molluscum contagiosum, genital warts, common warts, flat warts, measles, rubella, hand-foot-mouth disease, roseola infantum, AIDS, etc.

The main fungal diseases include: tinea manuum, pedis, onychomycosis, tinea cruris, tinea corporis, tinea capitis, tinea versicolor, etc.; those caused by spirochetes include syphilis; those transmitted by scabies mites include scabies, etc.

Infectious skin diseases are transmitted in two ways:

The first is direct contact transmission, due to direct contact with patients (including sexual contact) or contact with the skin, hair, blood, secretions, etc. of sick animals;

The second is indirect contact transmission, which is caused by contact with objects contaminated by patients or sick animals. Whether the disease will occur after infection depends on the virulence and quantity of the pathogens, the growth and reproduction conditions required by the pathogens, such as temperature, humidity, pH, etc., as well as the integrity of the human skin and immune function. Paying attention to personal and public hygiene in life, keeping oneself clean, strengthening physical exercise, and improving the body's immune function can completely avoid the occurrence of infectious skin diseases. If infected, seek timely treatment.

Secondly, is skin cancer contagious? The answer is definitely not.

In simple terms, infection is the transmission of a disease from one person to another through some means. Infection requires three conditions: a source of infection, a transmission route, and a susceptible population. Clinical data show that cancer patients themselves are not the source of infection.

To differentiate between precancerous skin diseases and skin cancer, we must first understand skin cancer, especially the clinical characteristics of early skin cancer.

Early skin cancer often manifests as erythematous or papular lesions that are slightly higher than the skin surface, often accompanied by scaly desquamation or crust formation on the surface. The symptoms are similar to benign skin diseases such as psoriasis, eczema, and inflammation. As the lesion develops further, some characteristic signs will appear, such as a shiny, translucent papular nodule with bleeding on the surface and telangiectasia. Or a scar-like fibrous plaque with a smooth surface, without obvious telangiectasia, ulcers, and protrusions. Or there are small black spots in the lesion that merge with each other.

The characteristics of skin cancer are very similar to the symptoms of some precancerous lesions such as solar keratosis and keratoacanthoma, making it difficult to distinguish them. Solar keratosis has rough erythema that is higher than the skin surface, and the surface is covered with scales. After removing the scales, the erythema often has no obvious protrusion. This is very similar to the erythema-like papules with clear boundaries and slightly higher than the skin surface of squamous cell carcinoma in situ, but the scales and crusts of the latter are more obvious, and the lesions are more substantial. Keratoacanthoma often occurs in exposed areas to sunlight. Without any warning signs, smooth red nodules will quickly appear within 2 to 3 weeks. There is a keratin embolus in the center, and dilated capillaries can be seen at the edge of the nodule. The nodules of squamous cell carcinoma that is distinguished from it are not smooth, and the edges of the nodules are translucent.

Because it is extremely difficult to distinguish between precancerous lesions and skin cancer, when you suspect a disease is skin cancer, it is best to do a pathological biopsy to confirm your judgment. Today, cancer is not listed as an infectious disease in the world, and no isolation measures are taken for admitted patients like infectious diseases. The medical staff of cancer hospitals are not more likely to develop cancer than the general population. Therefore, there is no need to worry about the question of whether skin cancer is contagious. Generally, it is not contagious, and we can take care of those skin cancer patients with confidence.